Of Blood And Bellatrix
by Pepper Lane
Summary: A short, intense, AU one-shot in which Tonks takes out Bellatrix during the Battle of Hogwarts. This maybe the first time I actually like my version better than canon. T for brief lang & action violence.


_Okay, I decided to try two new things in this one-shot: first person writing, and Nymphadora Tonks. I've got a few ideas for some more short stories and one-shots, so please let me know how I do with this one! Thanks!_

_**Disclaimer: I be not J.K. Rowling. She be not me. Though it'd be interesting to see how she handles a day in my shoes....**_

* * *

A good aunt might visit you on holidays, give you a gift on your birthday, smile fondly at you and say over and over how you've grown since she last saw you. If you have a very cool aunt, she might take you on trips to amusement parks or have you to stay the night at her house, staying up far too late to watch movies and eat junk.

If you have a not-so-good aunt, she might forget your name, ignore you or maybe just look disapprovingly on your dressing habits. If you have a really horrid aunt, she might yell at you, demand you straighten the covers this instant, or tell you look just like your good-for-nothing father and you'll probably turn out like him, too.

But that's about as bad as a normal aunt get. A _normal_ aunt.

Unfortunately, my aunt Bellatrix could not be considered anywhere near normal.

Not with several years in Azkaban, countless murders and tortures, and a sadistic, obsessive loyalty to the Dark Lord on her record. Not to mention a deep, ardent desire to kill me.

I'm only glad I killed her first.

* * *

The night my aunt Bellatrix died, Hogwarts was entrenched in war. Remus and I were fighting Death Eaters back to back in a corridor, curses and counters illuminating the flagstones in the passageway. I knew she had arrived when her personal favorite, the Cruciatus Curse, flew past my ear in all its crimson cruelty, accompanied by her high-pitched cackle.

"Ohhh NYMPHADOOOORRAAA!" she screeched. "I've come for you, darling!"

I finished off some fresh-mouthed new Death Eater recruit and turned to face her. "Oh, Aunt Bella! How _nice_," I spat, shooting an unspoken Body Bind, "of you to visit."

She grinned widely as she deflected the Bind, and I heard Remus whisper in my ear, "We take her on together, alright, Dora?"

"Oh yes, Dora darling, take her on together!" Bellatrix giggled madly. "So this is your little werewolf hubby. Just like your mother, aren't you? Neither of you ever had good taste in men."

"Can't you did either, Aunt Bella. If the best you could find was a snake charmer who didn't even have a body of his own for eleven years..."

"How _dare_ you speak about the Dark Lord with disrespect, you little halfblood bitch!" Bellatrix lunged at me like an infuriated wildcat. I whipped my arm back to swing at her jaw, but Remus' Stupefy spell was faster. Bellatrix's body was flung against the wall and slumped to the ground.

Then, slowly, through her wild mop of crow-black hair, came the stream of demented laughter that showed that Bellatrix Lestrange had regained her composure. Remus and I braced ourselves, ready for a fight.

But my beloved, my child's father, my best friend, never fought the rest of that fight with me. At that exact moment, Bellatrix shrieked, "_Sectum sempra_!"

Remus collapsed against me, dark red blood streaming from a huge slash across his chest. I fell to the ground holding him, trying furiously to heal the wound, but he was losing too much blood. I watched my beloved Remus fade away in my arms, his eyes and his lips trying to tell me of his love for me and our son.

I became conscious of Bellatrix's hand stroking my hair, standing beside me as I watched my husband die.

"Oh, Nymphadora, isn't it sad to watch an animal die?" Her voice was soft and silky.

I stood up with a mind of ice. My eyes turned a cold, hard white, and my hair a choppy, chin-length blood red.

Bellatrix cocked her head, insane black eyes glittering. "Temper, temper, my dear niece," she giggled in a low tone. "Let's not forget respect for your—"

"_Avada Kedavra!_"

* * *

It was the first and last time I had ever used the Killing Curse. And very few disagree that I used it well. Most are just amazed I effectively pulled off such a difficult, powerful spell the first time I used it.

But thinking back to that night, I am not surprised at all. With the amount of rage and hatred that consumed me right then, I expect I could have killed the Dark Lord himself and razed all of Hogwarts to the ground in the process. I suppose everyone should have been grateful that I confined myself to cursing Death Eaters right and left.

The icy white faded from my eyes after that night, but for weeks I couldn't free my hair of its blood red hue. Even to this day, the memory of that battle, that night of heartbreaking grief and revenge, my hair starts to smolder with a scarlet tinge.

* * *

_Thus begins my venture into Tonks fics....please tell me if you liked it! Or if you didn't! Or if you have an idea or a challenge! Anything! CLICK THAT REVIEW BUTTON!!!_

_~Pepper Lane_


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